This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Time to allow jets to land at the island airport

For decades, the Toronto Island Airport has been a quaint but wasted asset for the city, operating far below its full potential.

This sad state of affairs could soon change, though, if a proposed pedestrian tunnel is built to complement the ferry that now connects the airport to the mainland.

And it could change even more dramatically if city and federal politicians act boldly to reverse a 26-year-old agreement and allow small, super-quiet commercial and executive jets to land at the airport.

The tunnel's fate is expected to be hotly debated at today's annual meeting of the Toronto Port Authority, which oversees the airport and which wants to start building the tunnel as early as January.

Opponents of the tunnel, many of whom live in waterfront condominiums, will be at the meeting to argue against the plan and to complain about noise at the airport.

Article Continued Below

Today, the city is in the doldrums.

It needs a visionary action plan to stimulate the downtown core, which is struggling in the current recession and has seen many corporate headquarters moving over the past 20 years to the 905 region.

And a key part of that plan should be to approve small jets and the tunnel at Toronto's second international airport. Such a move would help attract new companies to the city, create jobs and provide a time-saving alternative to Pearson International Airport.

Last week the port authority decided to apply for federal infrastructure stimulus funds to build a $38 million tunnel with moving sidewalks under the 120-metre-wide Western Channel.

Swift approval should be granted for the tunnel – and then the ban on jets should be lifted.

And even if the tunnel proposal is rejected, the use of small jets should still be approved.

Currently, only propeller-driven planes are permitted at the airport. Porter Airlines, the lone commercial air carrier at the airport, has a fleet of Bombardier Q400 turboprops, one of the quietest turboprop planes available.

However, many airline passengers prefer to fly on regional jets, which are faster than most turboprops.

Over the years, politicians have bowed to complaints by waterfront residents who insist the airport is already too noisy. A Transport Canada study has indicated, though, that the local ambient noise is actually louder than that of the planes at the airport.

In 1983 when the 50-year deal to ban jets was signed by Ottawa, the city and the Toronto Harbour Commission (the forerunner of the port authority), noise was cited as a major issue.

Some 26 years later, technology has advanced to the point where many small short-haul regional "whisper" jets are quieter than some turboprop planes.

Critics also argue that allowing jets and more activity at the airport is out of step with Toronto's efforts to revitalize the waterfront.

Their argument fails to acknowledge that the city's overall plans recognize that the waterfront combines industrial, commercial, recreational and residential use. It also ignores the fact that the number of takeoffs and landings at the airport is far below the maximum currently allowed.

At the very time the city is losing businesses to municipalities on its borders and beyond, councillors can't afford to be blasé about the economic opportunities provided by a vibrant downtown airport.

Ultimately, Toronto residents and politicians have a clear choice.

They can bow to a highly vocal group of lakefront residents who, despite living beside one of the busiest and noisiest highways in Canada, claim the small airport doesn't fit their vision of waterfront revitalization.

Or they can allow the airport to expand, thus creating jobs, enticing businesses to stay in the downtown area and pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into our struggling local economy.

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com